Gurugram: Woman delivers baby in candlelight in government hospital

With no doctors in the maternity ward, nurses had to deliver the baby.

Gurugram: Woman delivers in candlelight in government hospital Pictured: New born babies in a hospital wardReuters

A Gurugram woman was forced to deliver her baby in a government hospital with no electricity and power backup. The nurses at the hospital lit candles and held up their cellphones for light for the delivery on Monday.

The Civil Hospital in Sector-10, Gurugram, Haryana also did not have any doctors on duty when the woman went into labour. The hospital continues to face electricity problems despite being in one of the most metropolitan areas, the NCR.

"When my wife, Kavita, was admitted to the hospital on Sunday evening, the ward was functioning under candlelight and several corridors were in total darkness," Kapil Kumar, father of the three-day old baby boy, told Mail Today.

The woman went into labour midnight on Sunday and was taken to the delivery room. The inverter in the delivery room broke down after some time.

Kumar alleged that there were no doctors in the maternity ward on Sunday night and the nurses had to deliver the child.

"The 25 minutes that I stood out of the delivery room were the longest anxious moments of my life," said Kumar.

Kavita and her son were discharged on Monday and are at home in Daulatabad colony in Old Gurugram.

The situation at the hospital has not improved as it is still dealing with powercuts. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, the government hospital faced an 11-hour power cut. The hospital has one generator but there is no diesel for it, which is mainly how private hospitals in the area function.

"The health department is also approaching South Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the hospital," Pushpa Bishnoi, the chief medical officer of Gurugram, told Mail Today. "We have asked the medical superintendent of the hospital to submit a report about the irregular power supply as well as this incident."